Distributed multi-user catalog-based system for real time data access during cardiology procedures

ABSTRACT

A distributed multi-user system for real time data access during cardiology procedures. The system includes an interactive computer network which can be used to simultaneously display data from a cardiology procedure on a plurality of devices and at a plurality of locations. A catalog, including a list of studies, may be selected by a client workstation. If a user selects one of the studies, the client workstation is dynamically directed to the study. The study can be displayed at any of the plurality of locations, which may be local or remote, during the procedure. Any updates to the data during the procedure will be distributed to the plurality of locations for real-time viewing of the updated data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a distributed multi-usersystem for real time data access during cardiology procedures and, moreparticularly, to an interactive computer network which can be used tosimultaneously display and manipulate data from a cardiology procedureon a plurality of devices and at a plurality of locations during thecardiology procedure.

2. Background of the Related Art

State of the art test and treatment facilities are essential toproviding accurate monitoring, diagnoses, and treatment of heartdisease. Medical facilities are often equipped to monitor and diagnoseboth mechanical and electrical defects in the heart. The presentinvention relates to the monitoring of the heart's electrical activity.

The heart is a muscle and, like other muscles, it contracts when it iselectrically stimulated. Unlike other muscles, however, the heart hasits own electrical system which can generate electrical impulses tostimulate the contraction of the muscle and thus keep the heart beatingin rhythmic sequence so the blood is continually pumped throughout thebody.

An electrophysiology study (EPS) is an invasive test involving themonitoring of the electrical signals in the heart. When defects in theheart tissue interfere with the normal formation or conduction of theheart's electrical activity, abnormal heart rhythms, known as cardiacarrhythmias, may develop. Cardiac arrhythmias may be caused bycongenital defects, tissue damage due to heart attacks, or diseases suchas arteriosclerosis (the deposition of fatty substances in the innerlayer of the arteries) for instance, which accelerate, delay, orredirect the transmission of electrical activity, thereby disrupting thenormal rhythmic contractions of the chambers of the heart. Theelectrophysiology study is used to assist in evaluating cardiacarrhythmias.

The basic electrophysiology procedure involves the recording and pacingof electrical signals within localized areas of the heart. During thisstudy, catheters are placed near critical areas of the heart to recordthe heart's electrical signals. The heart is paced in various ways tostudy the speed and location of the flow of electricity within theheart. Typically, the study is used to determine if the heart has atendency to pump faster or slower than normal and if the rhythm isdangerously irregular and thus requires treatment. Therapies for variousrhythm disorders include medication, catheter ablation of the pathway,pacemakers, and defibrillators.

Tachycardia is an arrhythmia characterized by an abnormally fast heartrate (more than one-hundred beats per minute). Tachycardia falls intotwo categories, ventricular tachycardia (VT) and supra-ventriculartachycardia (SVT). VT is tachycardia that originates in the ventriclesof the heart. SVT originates in the atria or at the junction between theatria and the ventricles of the heart. VT is a potentiallylife-threatening condition caused by either abnormally rapid impulseformation or by slow ventricular conduction which interferes with theheart's normal electrical activity and causes abnormally frequentcontractions in the ventricles. Rapid ventricular contractions oftenresult in significantly reduced cardiac output due to the inefficientpumping of the blood from the heart. As a result, the body receives aninadequate supply of oxygen which may cause dizziness, unconsciousness,cardiac arrest, or death.

Patients suspected of suffering from VT are initially screened by acardiologist (doctor specializing in the heart) by means of externalcardiac monitoring, typically in the form of an electrocardiogram. Anelectocardiogram captures electrical activity from surface leads placedon the patient's chest for twenty-four hours. When further testing iswarranted, the patient is referred to a cardiac electrophysiologist(cardiologist who specializes in the electrical functioning of theheart) for an EPS.

An EPS evaluates the electrical integrity of the heart by stimulatingmultiple intra-cardiac sites and recording the electrical response.During an EPS, a patient's clinical tachycardia is induced in acontrolled setting to diagnose the tachycardia and select an appropriatetreatment or combination of treatments. EP studies using currentlyavailable technology are often lengthy and tedious procedures whichinclude probing the interior of two or more chambers of the heart withsingle point contact catheters causing significant discomfort for thepatient. However, single point contact catheters have limited utility indiagnosing complex tachycardia. The limited data produced in point bypoint mapping often fails to provide the electrophysiologist withsufficient diagnostic power for a complete understanding of thetachycardia.

One form of treatment of VT and SVT type arrhythmias which is becomingincreasingly popular is catheter ablation. During the ablation (or“elimination”) procedure, which is similar to the procedure used in theEPS, a special catheter is inserted into the patient to deliver energy,such as radio frequency (RF) energy, to the precise areas of the heartwhich have been identified to cause the abnormal heartbeat. The tip ofthe catheter heats up and destroys the surrounding tissue therebycorrecting the anomalous circuit within the heart which is causing theabnormal electrical activity. Catheter ablation is a potentiallycurative treatment which is continually being developed.

To perform procedures such as the EPS or catheter ablation, a cardiaccatheterization lab is provided in which multiple clinicians candiagnose and treat heart conditions. These clinicians need to interactwith, manipulate, and document observations on the clinical data in thestudy record. It would be advantageous for clinicians to be able tointeract with and manipulate the clinical data simultaneously during aEP procedure. Such clinicians may include a primary physician, nurse,anesthesiologist, cardiovascular technician, radiology technician,consulting physician, and so forth. For example, it may be necessary fora cardiovascular technician, a primary physician, and a nurse to viewthe same information simultaneously during an EP procedure. However,each clinician may be located in a different part of the cardiaccatheterization lab. Further, consulting physicians who may be locatedremotely may need to view the same clinical data during an EP procedureto provide real-time consultation on a particular procedure. Currenttechniques to accommodate the complex workflow in a cardiaccatheterization lab are insufficient to meet these needs. Up to 128channels of data may need to be recorded at a rate of 1K-byte/sec makingthe acquisition, displaying and manipulation of such data difficult tomanage.

Prior techniques which have been employed in cardiac catheterizationlabs may not permit viewing of an EPS in real time on a system otherthan the acquisition station during the procedure, nor do they providethe capability of providing simultaneous access by different clinicians.FAX machines are currently used to employ the help of a consultingphysician at a remote location. During an EPS, certain data and diagramsmay be printed. These pages may then be delivered to a remote locationvia facsimile. Disadvantageously, this process is slow and tedious. Thetime it takes to exchange information between clinicians using thecurrent techniques may be critical during an EPS. Further, the lack ofsimultaneous viewing capability of an EPS which is currently beingconducted may result in critical delays in diagnoses and treatment ofheart anomalies.

The present technique may address one or more of the problems set forthabove.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present technique describes a distributed multi-user system for realtime data access during cardiology procedures. The system includes aninteractive computer network which can be used to simultaneously displaydata from a cardiology procedure on a plurality of devices and at aplurality of locations. In one implementation of the present technique,a catalog, including a list of studies, may be selected by a clientworkstation. A study may be selected from the catalog and the clientworkstation is dynamically directed to the study. The study can bedisplayed at any of the plurality of locations, which may be local orremote, during the procedure. Any updates to the data during theprocedure will be distributed to the plurality of locations forreal-time viewing of the updated data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system including a cardiaccatheterization lab and local and remote client workstations;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary implementation ofthe present technique;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a more detailed embodiment of anexemplary implementation of the present technique;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an archival scheme forpermanently storing study data in accordance with the present technique;and

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a messaging technique inaccordance with the present technique.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As previously discussed, a cardiac catheterization lab may be used bymultiple clinicians to perform procedures such as an EPS or catheterablation. FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of a catheterization lab 10.The catheterization lab 10 generally includes a procedure room 12 and acontrol room 14. The procedure room 12 is generally the room in whichthe physical catheterization procedure takes place. The control room 14is generally the room in which the control of the data gathering anddisplay takes place. The procedure room 12 may include a bed 16 in whicha patient 18 is placed during a cardiac catheterization procedure suchas an EPS procedure or catheter ablation. An intravenous (IV) line 20may be placed in the arm of the patient 18 to provide a means ofdispensing medication during the procedure. Catheters 22 may be insertedthrough the femoral vein in the groin of the patient 18. An x-rayimaging system (not shown) may be used to guide the catheter 22 into theappropriate region of the patient's heart. The patient 18 is alsoconnected to an acquisition workstation 24 to receive the data takenduring the study and which include display monitors to provide imagingdata during the procedure. Further, the lab 10 may also include one ormore workstations 25 and 26 with display monitors to provide additionalsupport during a procedure, as discussed below.

The catheterization lab 10 may also include a glass partition 27, suchas lead glass which separates the procedure room 12 from the controlroom 14. The control room 14 also includes a workstation 28 with displaymonitors which may be similar to the display monitors contained in theprocedure room 12.

A team of clinicians generally conducts an EPS procedure. The team mayinclude a doctor 30 to perform the procedure, a nurse 31 to maintain thepatient's vital signs, a scrub nurse 32 to assist the doctor 30 with theprocedure, a monitoring technician 33 who is responsible for providingthe doctor 30 with the information and data that the doctor 30 needs tosee during the procedure, and other clinicians 34 and 35 who assist inmonitoring and/or annotation of a particular procedure, for example. Themonitoring technician 33 is generally stationed in the control room 14.The monitoring technician 33 is in communication with the doctor 30during the EPS procedure through an intercom system, for example, andprovides information in response to requests from the doctor 30 whilethe procedure is being conducted.

During the procedure, the doctor 30 stimulates the patient's heart withsmall electrical signals delivered through the catheter 22 to make theheart beat at various rates. The electrical signals are delivered from astimulator 38 which may be a separate device from the acquisitionworkstation 24. Because the monitoring technician 33 responds torequests from the doctor 30 to control the data viewed on the displaymonitors associated with the acquisition workstation 24 in the procedureroom 12, the display monitors associated with the workstation 28 in thecontrol room 14 preferably display identical information. Likewise,other display monitors, such as those associated with workstations 25and 26, preferably display the information gathered during theprocedure. Further, workstations including display monitors mayadvantageously be installed in other areas within the same facility butoutside the catheterization lab 10, such as a local diagnosis area 40.The local diagnosis area 40 may include a workstation 42 with displaymonitors from which to view a study during or after a procedure.

Similarly, a facility 44 which may be located remotely with respect tothe lab 10, may include a workstation 46 with display monitors to beused by a remote specialist 48. The remote specialist 48 may participateduring the procedure to provide critical insight into the study whichmay not be available through the clinicians available locally. Forinstance, a remote specialist 48 whose office facility is equipped withdisplay monitors associated with workstation 46, can observe a procedurebeing performed in the catheterization lab 10 without being presentduring the procedure. As the remote specialist 48 observes the study, hecan advise the local clinicians in real time while the procedure isbeing performed.

To optimize the treatment of the patient 18, it may be desirable toprovide each set of display monitors associated with workstations 24,25, 26, 28, 42 and 46 with identical information simultaneously duringthe procedure. Further, it may be desirable to provide updates to eachworkstation in real time. In one embodiment of the present technique, aplurality of local areas and remote areas will advantageously includedisplay monitors which will allow real-time updating of the images inresponse to changes implemented during the procedure. The techniqueemployed by the present embodiment is a dynamic technique which providesinteractive reviewing of the EPS during the procedure. While a priortechnique allowed only end of study transfers, the present techniqueprovides for the transfer of information during the EPS study.

A general block diagram of the present scheme is indicated in FIG. 2.For simplicity new reference numerals are used to describe FIG. 2.However, it should be evident that some of the elements in FIG. 2 werepreviously described in FIG. 1 using different reference numerals. Amore detailed description of specific embodiments of the present schemeare described herein with reference to FIGS. 3-5.

Referring initially to FIG. 2, a cardiac catheterization lab comprisinga procedure room 50 and a control room 52 is generally illustrated byblock 54. As previously discussed, the lab 54 facilitates theacquisition of data received during an EPS procedure. An acquisitiondatabase 56 and a controller 58 may reside in the control room 52 tostore data taken during a procedure. The data is initially taken from apatient (not shown in FIG. 2) in the procedure room 50 and delivered tothe control room 52 via a local area network, for instance, to be storedin the acquisition database 56.

In one implementation of the present technique, the controller 58 in thecontrol room 52 serves as the “publisher” to a “local client” 60. A“local client” refers to any user workstation located proximate to thecontrol room 52, such as those workstations within the procedure room 50or within a hospital in which the lab 54 is housed. The “publisher” isresponsible for the real-time processing of the data. Local clients,such as local client 60, can access the acquisition database 56 directlyfrom a user workstation 62 during the EPS procedure without goingthrough a client server. In this topology, the local client 60 iscoupled to the lab 40 via a local area network, for example. The localclient 60 can communicate directly with the controller 58, and canexchange data with the acquisition database 56. The controller 58 will“publish” the EPS data to the requesting workstation 62.

Each local client 60 may also include a local client database 64 inwhich to store study data. Each time the data is updated during theprocedure, which may be continuous, the data is sent to the publisher(controller 58) for dissemination in real or near-real time (0-30 sec.from update). The controller 58 then replicates the study anddistributes it to any local client, such as local client 60, who may beviewing the particular study. This provides a real time means ofdisplaying updates during an EPS procedure for local clients, such aslocal client 60.

As discussed above, to facilitate the updating of studies the publisher,controller 58 manages the updates and the dataflow. Each time a study ischanged, the information is fed to the acquisition database 56. The datais then replicated and sent to all other subscribers who are currentlyviewing the present study. One typical mechanism for implementing thisand other topologies is by implementing a merge replicationarchitecture.

Merge replication can be viewed as a mechanism for implementing thepresent embodiments. Prior techniques of decentralizing study data bypublishing from a central location, such as a server, to multiple remotelocations residing within the cardiac catheterization labs or throughouta medical institution only provide for the instances when all data isentered at the central sites. Conversely, the present technique of usingmerge replication allows the system to utilize the present topology in amodified way. In this topology, a subscriber can process a transactionand have it propagated to the publisher. This replication topologyfunctions significantly different from prior systems. As can beappreciated by one skilled in the art, merge replication is the mostrobust and manageable replication topology used in the industry. Thereplication procedure can be implemented using commercially availablesoftware, such as applications available commercially from MicrosoftCorporation of Redmond, Washington or Oracle Corporation of RedwoodCity, Calif., for example.

Advantageously, by serving as the publisher for local clients, thecontroller 58 ensures that failure in the server operation will notdisable the use of the study for local clients. Regardless of whether aserver which may be associated with the acquisition database 56 isfunctioning, local clients will be able to access the acquisitiondatabase 56 and will be able to view and annotate any EPS beingconducted.

However, in certain instances, it may be desirable to have local clientsreceive study data through a server. A second topology generallyincludes a segment server 66 and a segment server database 68, asillustrated in FIG. 2. The segment server 66 may be responsible forcoordinating and universally updating changes made during an EPSprocedure regardless of where the updates are being delivered. Each timea change to an EPS is made, the data is sent from the controller 58 tothe segment server 66 and stored in the segment server database 68. Thesegment server 66 delivers a message to all clients currentlysubscribing to the system indicating that a change to the study has beenmade and that the data should be refreshed. This process may actually beinvisible to a user and the client system may automatically update thestudy when the segment server 66 indicates that changes have been made.Each local client 60 having a user workstation 62 and any remote client72 having a user workstation 70 that has the current EPS open receivesthe updated information from the segment server 66. This procedure isaccomplished by replicating the segment server database 68 uponsynchronization of the clinical data from the control room 52.

In this topology, the “publisher” is the controller 58 generallyresiding in the control room 52. The “subscriber” is generally thesegment server 66 and the segment server database 68. It should beunderstood however that the subscriber may also perform as a publisherif the data in the EPS study is edited and a client, such as a localclient 60 or a remote client 72, is working through the segment server66. For example, certain parameters may be entered at a nurses station.This data advantageously flows back, in real-time, to all other localclients 60 and remote clients 72 viewing that particular study. Thesegment server 66, thus, subscribes to the updates from the controller58 and then publishes the updated study to the local and remote clients60 and 72. Thus, in this topology, the data is transmitted from thecontrol room 52 to a segment server 66. The segment server 66 ultimatelyserves as the central publisher. The acquisition database 56 as well assubscriber workstations (located at facilities of the local and remoteclients 60 and 72) replicate their data to a single segment server 66which distributes the updated data to any subscribers viewing thecurrent EPS procedure.

It may be advantageous to provide a central server 74, including acentral server database 76, coupled to the segment server 66. As thenumber of clients and cardiac catheterization labs which provide data tothe segment server 66 increases, it may be advantageous to periodicallytransfer data from the segment server database 68 to a central serverdatabase 76 for permanent storage.

Generally, FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed embodiment of oneimplementation of the present scheme, depicting the simultaneousacquisition of study data in two catheterization labs. Up to this pointand to simplify the general description, references to study data havebeen presented as a unified set of information which may be viewed andannotated. However, it may be advantageous to divide the study data intodifferent types of data. In a present implementation, study data may becomprised of two data types: waveform data and file data. The advantagesof separating data types will become evident in the description of FIG.3, below.

Specifically, FIG. 3 illustrates two acquisition workstations 80 and 82.The acquisition workstations 80 and 82 may be located in the samecatheterization lab or in two different catheterization labs. Theacquisition workstations 80 and 82 are used to acquire and store studydata taken during an EPS. The acquisition workstation 80 collects bothtypes of study data, waveform data 86 and file data 88. The waveformdata 86 comprises the graphical illustrations and information takenduring the study. The file data 88 comprises the text accompanying thewaveform data 86, as well as any annotations made by clinicians orclients. The file data 88 is stored in an acquisition database 90, whichmay be included in an acquisition storage unit 92, such as a hard drive.The waveform data 86 is stored in the acquisition storage unit 92. Foreach set of file data 88, a pointer is maintained in the acquisitiondatabase 90 to provide the corresponding waveform file path. The catalog94 in the acquisition workstation 80 is a file that lists the studieslocated on that particular acquisition workstation 80.

Similarly, the acquisition workstation 82 collects both waveform data 98and file data 100. The file data 100 is stored in an acquisitiondatabase 102, which may be included in an acquisition storage unit 104.The waveform data 98 is stored in the acquisition storage unit 104. Foreach set of file data 100, a pointer is maintained in the acquisitiondatabase 102 to provide the corresponding waveform file path. Thecatalog 106 in the acquisition workstation 82 is a file that lists thestudies located in the acquisition workstation 82.

Each acquisition workstation 80 and 82 is coupled to a segment server108. The segment server 108 includes a segment server storage unit 110which may comprise a segment server database 112. Aside from storingwaveform data 86 and 98 in their respective acquisition storage units(92 and 104), the acquisition workstation 80 and 82 stores the waveformdata 86 and 98 in the segment server storage unit 110. The waveform data86 and 98 is written to the segment server 108 via a low prioritybackground thread. If the connection between the segment server 108 andone of the acquisition workstations 80 and 82 is interrupted, theacquisition workstations 80 and 82 are not compromised. Finally, thesegment server catalog 114 is a file that lists the studies on allacquisition workstations which are attached to the segment server 108(here acquisition workstations 80 and 82) and identifies on whichworkstation each study resides. The segment server catalog 114 isupdated by replication of selected database information from eachacquisition database (90 and 102).

A local client, such as local client 116, may wish to view the studyrecord which is currently being produced by the workstation 84. Thelocal client has a workstation 118 and a client storage unit 119,including a local client database 120. The local client 116 mayconcurrently review and edit study data by selecting a particular studyfrom the replicated copy of the segment server catalog 114 which may beaccessed from the local client 116. The segment server catalog 114 listsall of the studies from any of the acquisition stations which are linkedto the segment server 108. A non-annotatable copy of the segment servercatalog 114 which is accessed by the local workstation 116 is generallyillustrated by reference numeral 114 a. The application stored on theclient workstation 118 is then redirected by the file path stored in thesegment server catalog 114 to the acquisition database 90. The localclient 116 is then essentially linked to the file data 88 stored in theacquisition database 90 by a link such as a local area network. Thelocal client 116 receives the file data 88 directly from the acquisitiondatabase 90. The local client may view and annotate any of the file data88 on the local client workstation 118. The file data 88 is returned tothe acquisition database 90 with any annotations stored in the file.

While the file data 88 residing in the acquisition database 90 cangenerally be accessed and annotated directly by a local client 116, thewaveform data 86 is not directly accessible by the local client 116.Instead, the local client 116 receives the replicated waveform data 86 afrom the segment server 108. One reason for this particular scheme is toprevent a local client 116 from altering the waveform data 86. Since thewaveform data is a representation of the raw test results from an EPSstudy, it may be important to safeguard the integrity of the data byproviding access to only the replicated waveform data 86 a as describedin the present embodiment.

Finally, it may be advantageous to provide a central server 122 topermanently store (archive) study data once a study has been completed.The central server 122 may include a central server storage unit 124 tostore waveform data and a central server database 126 to store filedata. Further, the central server 122 may include a central servercatalog 128 which lists the studies on all segment servers, such assegment server 108, which are coupled to the central server 122. Sinceeach segment server 108 includes a catalog 114 listing all study recordscontained on any of the acquisition workstations which are coupled tothe segment server 108, such as acquisition workstations 80 and 82, thecentral server catalog 128 provides a path to any study contained on anyof the acquisition workstations throughout the network. The archivalscheme is further discussed with reference to FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of an archival scheme for permanentlystoring study data once a study is complete. The Archival Generator (AG)software application selects study data older than a user selectednumber of days from short-term storage in an acquisition database 90 and102. All selected study records in the acquisition database 90 and 102,including both the file data 88 and 100 and the waveform data 86 and 98,are copied to the central server 122. Once copied, the data may betested for data integrity by comparing the study record to the studyrecord stored in the segment server 108. Once integrity is verified, thestudy records can be deleted from the acquisition databases 90 and 102,as well as the segment server database 108. The central server catalog128, the segment server catalog 114 and the acquisition station catalogs94 and 101 are updated appropriately.

It should be evident that to provide real-time updates of the study datawhile a client is reviewing a study which is currently being conducted,a messaging system may be implemented to insure that updates are sent toclients viewing the particular study. FIG. 5 illustrates oneimplementation of a messaging technique corresponding to the presentsystem. When the file data 88 is inserted into the acquisition database90, a message record may be added to a socket table in the acquisitiondatabase 90. A messaging application, such as NetMsgSender, sends allmessage records located in the socket table through an output port ofthe acquisition workstation 80, such as TCP/IP Port 50,000, to allsystems, such as local workstation 118, which are configured to receivedata from the acquisition workstation 80. The message records may besent at a user-configurable interval. All acquisition workstations 80and 82 listen on the output port. If a message is received on aparticular workstation, such as workstation 80, the workstation 80 readsthe message and determines whether the message pertains to an activestudy. If it does, the workstation 80 determines which event is affectedand if the message is an update, insert or delete the appropriate studydata. The data is then refreshed on the local client workstation 118.

While the present embodiment discloses a technique using data takenduring an EPS, it should be evident to one skilled in the art that thetechnique described herein can be applied to other cardiology proceduresperformed in a catheterization lab in which electrical and/orhemodynamic data may be obtained.

While the invention may be susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way ofexample in the drawings and have been described in detail herein.However, it should be understood that the invention is not intended tobe limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention isto cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling withinthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the followingappended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of accessing a study record during acardiac catheterization procedure, the procedure being conducted in acardiac catheterization lab, the cardiac catheterization lab includingone or more acquisition workstations configured to acquire study datafrom the heart of a patient, comprising the acts of: (a) acquiring studydata from the heart of a patient; (b) separating the study data intowaveform data and file data; (c) storing the waveform data in anacquisition storage device and a first server storage device, whereinstoring the waveform data in the first server storage device takes placevia a low priority background thread; (d) storing the file data in anacquisition database and a first server database, wherein correspondingto the waveform data; (e) cataloging the study data collected by theacquisition workstation in an acquisition workstation catalog; (f)cataloging the study data stored in the first server storage device in afirst server storage device catalog; (g) concurrently reviewing thestudy data by selecting a study from the first server catalog; (h)accessing the file data in the acquisition database from a clientworkstation; and (i) accessing the waveform data in the acquisitionstorage device from the client workstation.
 2. The method, as set forthin claim 1, wherein the catheterization procedure comprises aelectrophysiology procedure.
 3. The method, as set forth in claim 1,wherein the catheterization procedure comprises an ablation procedure.4. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein storing the waveformdata comprises storing the waveform data in a first server storagedevice wherein the first server storage device is located locally withrespect to the cardiac catheterization lab.
 5. The method, as set forthin claim 1, wherein the client workstation comprises a monitorconfigured to display digital data.
 6. The method, as set forth in claim1, further comprising simultaneously displaying the data on a pluralityof client workstations.
 7. The method, as set forth in claim 6,comprising simultaneously displaying the data on the plurality of clientworkstations during the cardiac catheterization procedure.
 8. Themethod, as set forth in claim 7, wherein the act of simultaneouslydisplaying the data on the plurality of client workstations occurs inreal time.
 9. The method, as set forth in claim 8, whereinsimultaneously displaying the data comprises simultaneously displayingthe data on a plurality of client workstations during the cardiaccatheterization procedure, wherein at least one of the plurality ofclient workstations is located remotely with respect to the cardiaccatheterization lab.